Tag Archive for: urban skiing

mikemaginn

Urban Skiing: Snowless Daredevils From Finland

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Impossible but true.

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Crazy kids in Finland ski in the city without snow.  What gives?

Several years ago, four Finnish teen boys played around with skiing without snow in their city of Jyvaskyla.  In parks, streets, and into rivers and ponds, they would skid, slide, crash and burn.  Since beginning in 2011, these lads have made 16 episodes showing their mischief and athleticism, and they’ve been viewed more than three million times around the world. Their site is called Real Skifi.  Check it out here.

Meanwhile, here’s the latest episode. Fun or foolish?

Jon Weisberg

“Waste” Deep Skiing Due Soon In Copenhagen

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Incinerator With Skiable Roof to Open in 2017.

Skiable incinerator being built near Copenhagen

Skiable incinerator being built near Copenhagen. Credit: BIG Architects

For reasons I can’t fully explain, Denmark ranks at the top of the 2016 edition of the United Nations “World Happiness Report.” I’ve been to Copenhagen a few times and enjoyed the people and the food. Skiers there have painfully few options: a few tiny runs and an indoor facility.

Skiing off the roof, there will be a beautiful view of downtown Copenhagen. Credit: BIG Architects

Skiing off the roof, there will be a beautiful view of downtown Copenhagen.
Credit: BIG Architects

That’s about to change with the addition of a massive waste-to-energy incinerator under construction near Copenhagen. Designed by innovative architectural firm BIG in New York, the building has 41,000 square meters of roof which will have trees, hiking trails and a ski slope with synthetic snow. It is scheduled for completion in 2017.

BIG is headed by Bjarke Ingels, whose work includes 2 World Trade Center in Manhattan, the recently announced stadium for the Washington Redskins, and many other eye-popping projects around the globe.

In addition to its skiing feature, the incinerator will remind those in the neighborhood about their disposable consumables by sending a single smoke ring skyward every time a ton of carbon dioxide is produced.

See how the project works in the video below.